Cold Coffee
by HalfBloodPrincessx
Summary: Modern AU in which Merlin applies to work alongside Arthur and things don't go as he hoped.
1. Chapter 1

Arthur yawned into his arm and took one final sip of coffee before entering the corner coffee shop where he'd been working for close to two years now. He'd hoped his hard work had been paying off so he could obtain the management position. He opened the door and removed his sunglasses.

"Arthur, glad you're here." Came his manager's voice, "Come here, I have a job for you."

Excited about what was to come, Arthur threw on his apron and walked behind the counter to where his manager stood.

"This is Merlin," the manager said, motioning toward a boy of about Arthur's age behind him, "He's new and we're asking you to train him."

Disappointed and a little annoyed at his manager's newest task for him, Arthur rolled his eyes and said, "Well, come on then." to the young man.

"My name's Merlin, by the way," Merlin said, extending his hand to Arthur.

Arthur, who had been turned the other way, turned around with a judgmental look on his face. He looked down at Merlin's hand and said, "No."

Merlin, embarrassed, sheepishly put his hands back in his pockets. "So how long have you been working here?"

"What so you can pretend you're interested?" Arthur said as he thrust an apron and hat into Merlin's hands with the company logo.

"Well I-" Merlin began but was interrupted by Arthur touching his shoulder and talking to him in a hushed but irritated way.

"Merlin, let me tell you something. I've been working here for two years and have put a tremendous amount of effort into trying to become a manager. And I'm not going to have some idiotic trainee mess that up for me. So just watch what I do, don't bother me, and hopefully we'll get you off my arse in a short week." He smiled a fake and put-on smile, and harshly patted Merlin on the back. He turned and helped a customer.

Merlin let out an exasperated sigh and watched Arthur for a few prolonged seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi can I get a small caramel frappuccino, please? No whipped cream." The lady at the cash register said.

Arthur keyed in her order and said, "Of course." He turned to Merlin who appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact that the young woman had ordered anything. Arthur looked at him and said in a still friendly tone, "Uhm, Merlin…" He shot an apologetic smile to the customer as he turned to face Merlin again. "Merlin." He still tried to play it cool as he grabbed Merlin's shoulder. "Merlin," he harshly said, as he turned back to the customer and smiled, "He's new." He faked a laugh and grabbed Merlin's shoulder again, "Merlin what did this lovely customer order?"

"Uhm," Merlin hesitated, "A large-"

He was cut off by Arthur's slightly raised voice, "A small caramel frappuccino, Merlin, this customer has ordered a small caramel frappuccino."

"With no whipped cream." The customer chimed in.

"With no whipped cream." Arthur said harshly to Merlin.

"Oh, right." Merlin nodded.

"Well, then," Arthur looked at Merlin and Merlin shrugged back at him, "Go. Make. It." Arthur commanded as Merlin quickly nodded and apologized to the customer.

"I'm sorry ma'am, as I said earlier he's new." Arthur smiled at the customer and looked behind him to make sure his manager hadn't seen any of what had just occurred. "So will that be all for you today-"

"Uhm Arthur…?" Came Merlin's voice.

"Not now, Merlin, I'm helping a customer." Arthur said trying to control his annoyance at the trainee.

"But Arthur I-"

Arthur turned around quickly to see that Merlin had filled half the counter with whipped cream. "I don't know how to stop this machine Arthur, it just keeps going…"

The whipped cream machine's top flew off, causing whipped cream to flood the store and wouldn't stop.

"MERLIN!" Arthur yelled as he grabbed his shoulder, "She didn't want whipped cream anyway, IDIOT."

After his shift had ended, Merlin stepped out of the corner coffee shop into the chill London breeze. Today hadn't gone as well as he had hoped. As he walked he wondered what would happen, would he get this job? Or would he simply get Arthur fired for it?

Merlin had always been a superstitious person, he read his star signs, and believed in what he read. Recently, he'd been attending a psychic.

He entered the psychic's door, and immediately smelled burning incense. A cold soft voice spoke from behind a purple tapestry, "Ah, Merlin. Good to see you."

Merlin pulled back the tapestry to see his psychic, who called herself Malrion, wrapped in a sky blue scarves with her scraggily hands on her forehead in concentration. "Sit, Merlin, sit." She commanded as she grabbed Merlin's hand and traced her thumb along his palm lines. "How did the job go?" She inquired, her eyes closed.

"Not well. I worked with the Arthur you told me about. Why was it so important that I work with him?"

"That is a question you must answer for yourself, young man. But as I have said before, you and Arthur will be like two heads of the same coin."

"That's always your answer, that it's 'a question I should answer for myself.'" Merlin had gotten tired of hearing this answer time and time again.

Malrion nodded slightly, "But Merlin, if you do believe in destiny as much as you claim, you'll soon discover that Arthur is yours."


End file.
